Love lost, hope found
by Madman and Narico
Summary: Madman and old firend are brought together


**Love Lost, Hope Found  
**Written by Fire Byrd and Jason Cohen  
  
Chapter 1: A New Enemy  
  


The day began on Earth like almost all the others. Bright and sunny, but in the heart of one bot it was dark and rainy as ever. Madman had been with the Maximals for about 4 Deca-Cycles now. Yet it seem like a life time. She had so much to get used to. Like well, having other bots worry about her, and teamwork. Not a day went by when she found out how much work it was to be on a team. Back on Cybertron she was alone from the start. She learned fast the ways of the streets and ever forgot a lessen. But now, now was much, much, different. She had people depending on her and she, not really knowing it was dependent on them.  


  


"Madman, to Maximal base," reported the small bot. She had been assigned this day to a job that had split her spark in two. A few days ago Cheetor had gone off to spot where the Preds where getting their energon, and he never returned or reported in. That was not like him. Being the best tracker of the whole group, may be in all of Cybertron, Optimus had sent her out. "Madman, what did you find?" Narico asked from the base.   
"I've found large cat prints leadin' to a cliff." The thought of him jumping off crossed her mind, but she knew he did not jump on purpose. "He jumped, but there's a large blaster mark on the lege,"  
"What are you trying to say Mutt?" asked the always talking and ever listening coati, for some odd reason, Madman felt a friendship for this bot that had known the good life in her mind.  
"He had help, I am goin' down the cliff to see if his body is down there." The thought of finding the young warrior's sparkles body did not suit her. She had a pretty good idea who's gun it was. And the idea of getting him back was a thought that almost made her mouth water.  
"Hold on there, flea bag, you don't have permission to pursue. Only to find his tracks and report." That was another thing that bugged her. Everyone around here ALWAYS needed an order to do something. No not everyone, there was Rattrap. Now here was a bot like her. He was street smart like her and well always fighting with someone. Unlike her, he never looked for a fight.   
"Ahhhh!" The energon had over loaded her systems one again forcing her to beast mode. Not that she minded really. Her beast mode was great for a tracker like herself. A wild dog, a mutt really. Sure she was not as fast as Cheetor or as well, small and skinny as Rat Trap or Narico, but still it fit her fine. With her infa-red sight, she could track ANYTHING anywhere.  
"Listen here, Long nose, I may not have time to get the boss's okay. Kitty may be down there and a few cycles to sparklessness."   
"Fine, it's your tail when he finds out." That ended the fight over IF she was doing the right thing.  
In her slick dog mode she jumped down ledge after ledge. It took a few seconds to pick up on his sent. A few feet down was a large cave. And a few hundred feet from the opening was the young warrior. She smelled the air to make sure he was alone. The one thing she could do well, and knew, it was spot a tarp. He was alone, seemingly the Preds had shot him down and left him there thinking he was dead.   
"Typical, Preds what cowards, " She spit it out. But she knew her hate for them would not get Cheetor help. She walked, no that's not the right word for it, she ran to his side. This stone cold bot had feelings for the young bot in training, something she knew he would never share.  
"Kid, are ya okay?" she asked with real worry in her voice.  
Not a sound, great, wonderful she thought. Like it or not she would HAVE to report to the base. "Madman, Maximize."  
"This is Madman to Maximal base. I've found Cheetor, he's not responding to my voice. I think he has suffered to much damage, I am going to try and get him back in to beast mode."   
Silence.  
"Repeat, this is Madman to Maximal base." Still nothing.   
A trap, that's was it was, a trap. Get two of the best fighters out of the way and attack the base.   
Turning back to the injured bot.  
"Okay Kitty, let's see what we can do for ya," Her skills were going to come in real handy. IF she could get Cheetor back in to beast mode he could heal him self. Her skills did not only include wonderful tacking skills but also some hacking, and this time it helped.   
"Darn that rat, for teaching me some tricks, and here he thought I was not paying attention," she said taking out her interface. She would have to work fast if she was to help him. It took her a while but she did it. Not only that, she managed to drag the bot in and make him comfy.  
"Well, Kitty were just going have to wait until the other bots find us. 'Cuz there's no way in Cyberton I can lug your body back to base. It's funny, here we are alone by a nice roaring fire, and your unconscious. Oh well, better keep watch in case those bloodsucking Preds come back. Madman beast mode." She said as she walked out in to the night air. Many Megacycles passed in fact the whole night did. Despite all her determination to stay awake, Madman in the end fell asleep. For the first time in a long while, she was able to dream. But to her it was not a dream, it was real. She was awaken in the dream by a young bot just like Cheetor. She tried to talk but when she did she, had no voice. There was a feeling in her heart for this one bot, that told her he was always with her. A bright light, then she was boarding the ship that landed her on Earth. She was saying good bye. She woke up to a rising sun and the sound of "Ohh my head, what happen? Hello? Any bot here?" Cheetor asked as he tried to get to his feet but failed to.   
"Don't try to move kid, ya'll just end up hurting your self more," she said walking to her hurt comrade. "Now tell me, what happened to ya?" she said as she ran a check on all his systems.   
"It started out normally. I mean, nothing was supposed to go wrong." Said the exhausted cheetah.  
"Nothing ever goes as it is originally planned." Mumbled Madman, like she was reliving a horrible memory. The cat ignored her and continued.  
"I was doing what Optimus said. ' scout out the possible locations of Predacon mining fields'. It was going fine. At my top speed, too. I stopped to rest when I saw the weirdest thing in the sky. It was definitely a Pred. I remembered the voice. Both of them. My scanners couldn't identify who it was, but I was worried. It looked like a Fuzor. It had a pterodactyl head, pterodactyl wings, eight legs, and a scorpion tail. It then said something I feared. I ran to the cliff to get a better view. It said 'Scorpasaur, Terrorize.' Just what we needed, a new Pred."   
  


Chapter 2: Enemies Down?  


  
"Great, now we have a new Pred on our hands, when I saw the blaster marks on the cliff I thought it might be Terrosaur's gun. But from what your tellin' me, they took two bots and threw 'em together. And ya know what that means, don't ya?" She asked him.  
"No, I don't what does it mean?"  
"Bad news, that's what." And this had started out such a good day.   
The next day started out much better than the last.  
" My systems are at 100%, Madman. I think we can go home now" exclaimed the pleased kitty.  
"And how do we plan on explaining this to Optimus?" asked Madman.  
"You sure have a way of putting a damper on people's hopes don't you? Well, anyway, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Replied Cheetor  
"Cheetor, Beast mode!"  
"Madman, Beast mode!"  
They both walked outside and started to run back to base. When they got to a stone bridge, they heard flapping coming from up above.  
"Scorpasaur, Terrorize!!"  
"This should be fun. If we take him down now then we won't have to deal with him in the further," said Madman An idea, what idea? Most of her plans involved shooting now, then planning when the bullets ran out.  
"Got any ideas Kitty? Cuz if ya don't there's only one thing to do."  
"What's that other thing?" Asked Cheetor, like he did not know her plan.  
"Madman, Maximize!  
"Cheetor, Maximize!"  
"Dive behind rocks and hope we can hit him. Now on my mark, SHOOT!"  
Madman, being the expert markswoman that she is, quickly shot off 6 of Scorpasaur's legs. Cheetor knocked off a wing.  
"Yahoo! We got him kitty!" exclaimed the joyous dog.  
" We should examine him see what we can get out of him" explained Cheetor.  
"Who are you?" asked Cheetor.  
"My name, is Scorpasaur, and I am surprised you don't recognize me, Cheetor. I must say, this is the most impressive of your forms. Much better then the one we remember" said the injured Fuzor.  
" How do you know that I had more than one form?" asked the surprised kitty.  
" Maybe you'd understand better if I told you my story. I'm sure you remember the Quantum Surge a while back. " started Scorpasaur.  
" Oh, boy. I had just forgotten it"  
" The Predacons Terrorsaur and Scorponok were knocked into a pool of lava by the earthquake. They sat dormant in there for three Deca-Cycles. When they flew out, I was born. I have the combined power of both Terrorsaur and Scorponok. My new power rivals only Megaton's!" The dog and cat team could hear some of Terrorsaur's arrogance and greed for power shining through.  
"Your intelligence didn't keep up" muttered Madman.   
"What do we do with him now?" asked Cheetor.  
"Your ideas are as good as mine, maybe even better. If it was up to me I would just leave him here. Simple." Said the cold hearted mutt with her blaster held to the Pred's head.  
"Madman, no! Doing that, you would be just like the Preds." Here was a sentences that hit home.   
"Fine, he's yours to do what ever ya please with him. But waiting around here is only putting the base in grater danger." She dropped her weapon but only a few inches away, not trusting this new addition.   
"Who know what could be happening back there? Maybe they're all dead, including Blackarachnia." Sure it was mean, and sure it would get him moving. But the look in his eyes hurt her. Deep down hurt, but she brushed it off. He was a funny kid, everyone knew he liked the black widow, and everyone knew she like one of the newer members of the team, Silverbolt. But for all his love he could not see that, and she knew he felt lonely. But what bugged her the most was that no one could see that the mutt off the streets had feelings for Kitty. It was a shame, they were so much a like.   
  


Chapter 3: The Problem  
  


"We should head back" said Cheetor, breaking the silence ," we've got the video tape that we need"  
" Hey, better yet, why don't we do something to him!" said Madman hopefully.  
" Maybe I can help" said a new voice.  
" Hey! How ya doing Long-Nose!" exclaimed Madman, happy to see her friend  
"Fine until I saw you, Mutt. Optimus sent me out here to check up on you two. Glad to know you're healthy, Cheetor. I brought a medpack for you." Narico then took out a box from his pack and started to work on Cheetor. In a few cycles:  
"There, you should be better by now." He looked over to the heap of black and red metal in the corner. "Who, or what the heck is that?" asked the coati, intrigued.  
"You should take this Madman. You're a better storyteller." Said Cheetor. Then he did the one thing that Madman had been hoping for, but didn't expect would come. Cheetor kissed Madman on the cheek.  
To say the least she was surprised, but to act embarassed would be an insult to the kid. She had a job to do, she would act the way she felt later.   
"As for your question long nose, ya fix him up and I'll tell ya. It seems that we have a new Fuzor on our hands. He says his name's Scorpasaur, he's a mix of Scorpanok and Terrorsaur," she said as Narico worked on the slagged bot.  
"But, but, I am so much more now! I will rule the Preds!" yelled the Fuzor. Narico quickly put a bandage over his mouth.  
"I think during the spark meld, he might of lost his mind." Whispered Narico to the other Maximals.  
"Gee, what would make you think that?" Asked Madman always one for a come back.  
"Here's something that I don't we have considered yet, won't the other Preds be out looking for him?" asked Kitty, it was one of his strong points, one of his few strong points.  
"Ya know, ya might just be right. And were sittin' ducks out here in the open, who knows, they could be on their way now." Worried, she was not worried.   
  


Chapter 4: The Solution and a Mystery Unfolds  


  
"I have an idea" said the coati.  
"What a rare occasion" chimed Madman. Narico sighed and continued on with his explanation.  
" I brought a hologram projector with me, along with a voice changer and a mind machine,"  
" Glorified metal boxes" muttered Madman.  
"Let him speak" said Cheetor.  
" My plan is that we use the hologram projector to send out an image of Scorpasaur lying on the ground unconscious. When the Preds see it they'll hear Scorpasaur saying how this wasn't a good idea. Then we'll use the mind machine to tap into the real Scorpasaur's head and use him as a drone around the base. The voice changer's for fun."  
Madman picked up the voice changer. " Yesss, this is Megatron. Yesss. Mmmmm wazzpinator loooooove doggy-bot. Eh, Rattrap, Maximize." She said, playing around with the voice changer. Then in Cheetor's voice "Oh, Madman, you are so sexy. I never really liked Blackarachnia. She was a toy. You are my true love."  
" WHAT!?" exclaimed the cat  
"Oh it's just a joke Kitty, lighten up will ya?" asked the joking dog, she might be able to say it as a joke but she knew it was something she would never really hear from his mouth. Madman played with the voice thingy for a few more moments trying to find the Preds voice, but without knowing she picked a voice that she had heard before but only in a dream. "What in the world!" She yelled as her heart skipped a few beats. "Now how did that voice get there? I did not program it that for sure," said the Long nosed Narico just as shaken as Madman. "Wait, I know that voice, it's of an old friend of mine back on Cybertron, his name was was Nightscream." Said Cheetor, informing them all. Now all the memories came back to Madman, ALL of them.   
"Let's get this over with okay?" Asked Madman her mood changed in to a bad one. The forgotten spark had come back to haunt her, but why now?   
Madman and Narico both had vehicle modes. They used some vines as cables and attached Scorpasaur to them. Cheetor rode on top of his body.  
"At this rate, we should be back to base in no time" said Madman.  
"Hold up guys, I see something in that cave." Said Cheetor from his living seat.  
They all stopped.  
"Madman, Maximize!"  
"Narico, Maximize!"  
The ragtag threesome then walked into the cave.  
"It was right over here, by this rock" explained Cheetor, pointing to a boulder.  
" I'll get it" said Narico waltzing over and throwing the boulder away like it was a leaf. "Hey, strength goes unnoticed"  
"There it is!" exclaimed the Cheetah.  
They walked over, and found what looked like a Stasis pod with a note attached. Narico picked up the note.  


_-Madman  
I have left home and willingly went into this pod.   
I will see you soon.  
-A friend  
  
_

"All systems are go on this pod, he's coming out," said Narico.  
  


Chapter 5: A New Old Friend  
  


When the pod opened, Madman was shocked. Out flew a vampire bat.   
"Nightscream, Maximize! Hello Madman"   
No feeling what so ever, numb from head to toe. "How, how, howdy." She started out. But the numbness went away, and was replaced by anger. "How could ya! How dumb can ya be!" She yelled at the top of her lungs not caring who or what heard her.   
"What do you mean? I don't understand what your talking about. And what happened to your body?" asked the newly arrived bot.   
"That's okay kid, most of the time no one does," shot back Narico.   
"I thought, I thought you wanted me here,"   
"Kid I care for ya, that's why I don't want ya here. Were in the middle of a war. If ya got hurt I don't know what I would do." She said in her most caring tone. She look in to the bat bot's eyes to see real hurt but that only lasted a few seconds, then left.   
"What are you talking about? Me get hurt? I can fight just as well as anyone, and you know it." He said in a stiff voice trying to make her feel better.   
"Okay, kiddies it's time to get back to base and tell the boss bot all that has happened, don't you think?" Long nose asked as he again hitched him self to the Pred.   
"I just have one question, why does kitty get a free ride and I have to pull?" asked Madman .  
The whole trip Madman was complaining.   
"How much farther? Are we there yet?"  
" Ten more cycles you infernal mongrel!!" screamed the Coati.  
When they arrived at the base, Optimus was scowling at them.  
  


Chapter 6: Acceptance?  
  


" Eh, boss monkey doesn't like you bringing in stranglers" said Rattrap.  
"Explain yourself, Madman. I asked you to go out and trace Cheetor's tracks, not bring back two new transformers. What were you thinking?"  
"Well, um here's what happened" started the mutt.   
"I did exactly what ya would of done. I rather have my energon shut off then leave Cheetor to die. And ya know it too. As for the two new ones you can ask Kitty about em. The Pred I just wanted to slag right on the spot but goody two-shoes over there would not let me." At this point she was starting to get in Optimus's face.   
She knew it was better not to push her luck with him, from what she had heard.   
But she did not care, push it she would. She was going to make sure that Nightscream never saw battle any which way she could.   
"Let me handle this" said Narico.  
" The two bots you see are both new. This one's Scorpasaur. A combination of Terrorsaur and Scorponok"  
"Why me?" complained Rattrap.  
"But I put in a mind control device to make him loyal to the Maximals. The other one is named Nightscream. We don't know his specifications quite yet, But we found this note. It's up to you what you want to do with him" said Narico, handing Optimus he note.  
"Hmm..." replied the monkey, who know looked more like a jet.   
From the look on his face, he did not look happy. Not surprising to Madman, from the way he was looking she could tell that he was not pleased, it may mean that Nightscream could be denied entrance to the Maximal base and left to defend him self from the Preds. That's not what she wanted, all she wanted was to protect her friend.   
"I can vouch for him, Optimus, he's a good bot. He does ariel recon, and is a night patroller. Learns fast." spat out the hyper bot.  
"Okay, Okay I get your point. He can stay but only if you teach him how to fight. And you better teach him fast. As for the Pred, I want that mind control take an out. No bot should be controlled like that. I want Narico and Rhinox working on him. The last Maximal to be added to the team would love to slag me. I don't even need to remind you how often we see him at the base."  
"Me? You want me to teach Nightscream how to fight? Why?" asked Madman   
She did not get an answer for the question she just knew.   
"Hey, Madman thanks for defending me. Now what do we do?" asked Nightscream.   
"Now kid we see how fast and far you can fly. Ya better get a runnin'." She said as she leveled her blaster at him.   
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
